Here Steal My Identity; Facebook Privacy Settings Under Fire

Latest Reports State Us Facebook Users Are Ripe For The Picking

75% of us users allow others to publicly view our profiles. Another 25% percent of us allow others to publicly view our employment history. We are 100% screwed.

According to research done by Sophos on the London Facebook network, Facebook users are opening themselves up to droves of cyber-criminals. Uh, no duh. If you are that mentally deficient to reveal enough sensitive information about yourself online, then you probably deserve to have some thief steal from you. Facebook is just like any other online activity (or real life) - if you are not careful you will get hurt.

But this not the point. The point of the matter is does Facebook, as a company, have a responsibility to their users to protect them? I would agree that they do, but to what length’s do they have to go to in order to satisfy the media and gen pub’s appetite for protection from harm. Don’t all of the privacy settings, notes, warnings and the fact that all information is voluntarily submitted signal enough of a “be careful” warning to users.

“I was flabbergasted when I joined a network on Facebook using a profile which I thought was secure, only to find Facebook had changed a number of settings and was opening me up to millions of strangers,” said Cluley (lead consultant at Sophos). “Who was to say that cybercriminals weren’t in that network, too? Is it right that Facebook works this way?”

Apparently not.

Like This Post? Subscribe to Our RSS Feed and Never Miss Another Post!